Everything is RENT
by Amythista
Summary: No Day But Today.
1. Seasons of Love

Hi people! This is my first Harry Potter fic, but its' kind of a crossover! That's right,its RENT-Harry Potter version! I'll do my best with this. This is set where RENT is set, and some relationships are…messed up…and you'll figure out who the characters are.

This is movie-verse. Enjoy!

________________________________________________________________________

Prologue

Eight people stand on a stage.

This has been a long year.

We are ready to tell about it.

Lights come up, and we begin our story.

"Five hundred, twenty-five thousand ,six hundred minutes.

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand moments so dear.

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes,

How do you measure,

Measure a year?

In daylights,

in sunsets,

In midnights,

in cups of coffee.

In inches,

in miles

In laughter,

in strife

In

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure

A year in the life?

How about love?

How about love?

How about love?

Measure in love.

Seasons of love.

Seasons of love."

Parvati begins her solo.

"Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes!

Five hundred twenty-five thousand journeys to plan.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?"

Seamus's turn.

"In truths that she learned?

Or in times that he cried?

In bridges he burned?

Or the way that she died?"

We all begin to sing again.

"It's time now,

to sing out,

Though the story never ends.

Let's celebrate,

Remember a year

in the life of friends!

Remember the love."

Parvati began singing again.

"Oh, you got to

You got to remember the love!

You know that love is a gift

From up above

Share love, give love, spread love

Measure, measure your life in love!"

Back to the rest of us:

"Seasons of love.

Seasons of love."

She has the last word.

"Measure your life

Measure your life in love."

This is just to see if anyone likes the idea, since this chapter didn't take too much effort on my part. So review and tell me if you like the idea!


	2. Intros and TuneUps

I figured I better post another chapter, if only to answer some reviews and explain that I couldn't think of anything else for Seasons of Love. More dialouge that I actually made up in this chapter!

osruigal126: Yes, Mimi, I know who you are. And yes, you can.

potter06: Thanks! But I didn't originally come up with the idea. I'm not sure who did.

Yemi Hikari: Not offended. But I will (in this chapter) try to clear the story.

Liah Cauthon: No, sorry. I'm not sure if it was a typo, but what's KH?

Jokegirl: Here it comes!

oXXb00kw0rmXXo: Thank you! I think you misunderstand, the HP characters ARE the RENT people.

I forgot to post this but this is AU. I don't even know what that is, but it's obviously AU. Another Universe? I don't know.

PLEASE tell me what you thought of this chapter!

Aaand-this is a combo of movie and musical. I changed it. So there will be the songs from the musical, but in movie order. I think. Or I'll just make it up. But ANYWAY-I put Seasons of Love at the beginning. It seems the best place for this fic.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Stupid, stupid guitar..." mutters Harry, plucking at the offending object. Perhaps in retaliation, a string breaks. "Damn!"

"Language, Potter," I say, focusing my camera on him. He glares at me, so I focus the camera on myself.

"Our story begins on Christmas Eve. I'm Ron, and this is my roommate, Harry." I turn the camera around to face a swearing Harry, then quickly focus on myself again. "We live in a small loft-"

"Micro-sized," mutters Harry.

"-on the corner of 11th street and Avenue B." I continue, glaring at Harry.

"We dropped out of school when we were 16, moving out here. The magical world has seemed to forgotten about us, and where we are, since we were stripped of our wands when we dropped out. Alone and without magic, we're starving and cold, because we have no heat." I shrug, then turn the camera on Harry, grinning.

"Smile!"

"Oh, God-"

"December 24th, 9 PM, Eastern Standard Time." I film around Harry, who rolls his eyes and mutters "Filmmakers."

"From here on in- I heard that!- I shoot without a script." I sigh.

"See if anything comes of it."

"'Stead of your old shit." smirks Harry, successfully changing his guitar string, then attempting to tune.

I glare at him. "First shot-Harry!"

"Why, why-?" the guitar blasts out some nasty-sounding notes

"-tuning the Fender guitar he hasn't played in a year!"

"This won't TUNE!" yells Harry in frustration as another bad note comes out.

"So we hear." I smirk, then duck as he throws a pillow in my direction.

"Missed! OW!" His second one hits me in th face.

"Who was supposed to be the Keeper?"

Okay. Now I'm mad. "He's just comin' back from half a year of withdrawal!"

Harry throws his head up, but keeps trying to tune. "Look, are you talkin' to me? HA!" The note comes out right.

"Not at all!" I say innocently. "Are you ready?"

"Whatever."

"Hold that focus steady."

"That's YOUR job." he groans.

"Tell the folks at home-"

"What folks?"

"-what you're doin', Harry!"

He sighs. "I'm ATTEMPTING to write _one_ great song-"

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!

"The phone rings." I groan. There goes my shot.

"SAVED!" crows Harry. I glare at him.

"Not yet, my friend. We screen-zoom in on the answering machine."

"Uh oh-"

SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

My mother's voice comes on the speakerphone, accompainied by the noise of at least twenty other people. Harry and I groan simultaneously. My family has extended. A lot.

"Well! That was a very loud beep!" says my mother's voice. I slouch on the couch next to Harry.

" Oh, I don't even know if this is working. Ron? RON? Are you there? Are you screening your calls? It's mum!"

"I figured." I mutter. Harry smirks.

"We wanted to call and say we love you! And we'll miss you tomorrow! Bill and Charlie and the twins and...well, everyone but you, Percy and Gin-" her voice breaks. I know how she feels. Harry does too. His face goes all wierd and he picks at his guitar half-heartedly. I wince.

"-your family is here, they send their love-oh! I hope you like the hot plate!" she seems to have cheered up. "Just don't leave it on, dear, when you leave the house, or loft, or whatever it is. Oh, and Ron? We're sorry to hear that Lavender dumped you. I say c'est la vie! So let her be a lesbian...there are other fishies in the sea! Love Mom!"

"Wow."

I shake my head and continue to film. "Tell the folks at home what you're doing Harry!" He picks himself up a bit.

"I'm TRYING to write one great song-"

BBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

I sigh. "The phone rings.

"Yesssss!" I glare at him. He smirks and continues plucking his guitar.

"We screen-"

SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

A familiar voice sounds over the phone. "Chestnuts roasting-"

"SEAMUS!" Harry and I exclaim as I pick up the phone.

"I'm downstairs." he explains. I smile. "Hey!"

He sounds confused. "Harry picked up the phone?!"

"No, it's me."

"Just kiddin'. Throw down the key." I do so, grinning at him. Seamus, along with a bunch of other people from Hogwarts, moved down here with us, and we quickly became friends once we relaized that the magic had been what was holding us from being friends. Now he's one of us. He's one of the self-proclaimed bohemians.

"A wild night is now pre-ordained!" I say to Harry excitedly. Seamus has changed a LOT. He's discovered a love of alcohol and partying. It's what he does.

I hear wierd noises, like someone grunting and laughing, then Seamus' weak voice. "I may be detained-"

Dial tone. "What does he mean...?" I ask Harry as the phone rings agin. He shrugs. I pick up the phone.

"What do you mean, detained?"

"Ho ho ho!" comes my brother's cheerful voice. We groan.

"Percy!" I say cheerfully. "Shit." says Harry. I shush him.

"Dudes, I'm on my way-"

"Great!" I say. "Fuck." mutters Harry. I glare at him.

"I need the rent."

Stop! Wait. Go back. Rewind. "What rent?"

I hear a sigh on the other line."This past year's rent which I let slide!"

WHAT? "Let slide? You said we were 'golden'!"

Harry grabs the phone. "When you bought the building?"

"When we were roommates?" I grab the phone back.

Harry takes it again. "Remember - you lived here!?"

Percy laughs. "How could I forget? You, me, Seamus and Lavender." Pause. "How is the drama queen?"

Oh no. Here we go. "Umm...She's performing tonight." I say nervously.

Percy sighs. "Yeah, I know! But, still her production manager?"

Shit. I sigh. "Well...two days ago I was bumped."

A snigger from Harry. A glare from still dating her?"

Here we go. "Okay, last month I was dumped!"

"She's in loooove!" singsongs Harry, grabbing the phone. I yank it back.

Percy sounds surprised. "She got a new man?"

Oh, fuck. "Well...um...no..."

Percy laughs. "What's his name?"

"Parvati." But someone says it with me. "Harry!" I whisper-scream. He smirks.

Silence. Then Percy bursts into laughter. I sigh. Once he calms down, he informs us that "Rent, my amigos, is due. Or I will have to evict you. Be there in a few."

Dial tone. I sigh and hang up. Harry goes back to play his guitar. He plugs it into his ampifier.

Muesetta's Waltz. Again. Doo dodo do do dooo, do do do do-

Silence. The lights flicker out. I light a candle, hold it up to my face, and turn on my camera.

"The power blows."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm proud of this chapter. Please review!


	3. You'll See, Cause it's Rent

A/N: YAY! Third chapter. I'm proud of myself. This is the longest I've really stuck with a story. So this means that I will probably finish this story. Thank you for sticking with me thus far. In this chapter, I changed some lyrics a bit. NOT MAJOR. Looking over it, I only see "say burn the past to the ground" instead of "as they burn the past to the ground." And I took something out of "You'll See," because it was weird.

Please don't review on my mistakes, lyric-wise. If you don't like the story, go ahead and tell me why so I can fix it. But please not on incorrect lyrics or the wrong pairings. ESPECIALLY not on the wrong pairings. I know I have a bunch of RH's or Romione's or HG whatever shipping it is, but please don't tell me why it should be that pairing instead. You guys have been GREAT about that so far, but to new readers, please don't. I tried to make it a bit more pleasing with there being a past relationship...I hope you've caught on what it was...kudos to bookworm for figuring it out! And I was going to say something else, but I forgot. Oh well.

I forgot to mention this, but I am neither J.K. Rowling nor Jonathan Larson. Don't you think you would've known if I was? I do not own. I have never owned. I will never own. If I did own, the world would be mine, Jonathan Larson would be alive, and probably a certain non-canon couple would get together. But then most of the world would kill me. However, my fellow ship-sailors would hug my dead body.

This was a very long author's note. I am making it even longer by typing this, just to annoy you. OMG A CHIPMUNK! Sorry. I'm typing outside and there was a chipmunk really close by. But it was frightened by my loud clacking keyboard.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Harry groans. I jump up and whirl around to face him.

"How do you document real life, when real life's getting more like FICTION each day?" I ask him, gesturing around to our absurd positions.

"Headlines, bread-lines...ugh, they blow my mind!"

"And now this deadline," interjects Harry.

I gesture towards him. "Yes! Eviction or pay_ rent_!"

Harry snorts. "Well, how do you write a song when the chords sound wrong?"

"They sounded right?"

He glares at me. I jump up to the fuse box to investigate.

"Right and rare! But now the notes are sour-"

"_Where is the POWER?!" _I mutter, frustrated and angry.

He continues to speak, ignoring me. "I once had to ignite the air..."

I slam the fuse box shut. "Harry, we're hungry, not to mention frozen!"

Harry shrugs. "Some life that we've chosen!" He strums something on his guitar.

"So, how we gonna pay-" he sings

"How we gonna pay-" I add, grinning and tapping my foot in time.

"How we gonna pay, last year's rent?" we both sing.

"Hmm..." Harry strums something, then smiles evilly.

He starts to play a strange, yet catchy tune.

Dadadadadadadada da da da da, dadadadadadadada da da da da...

I give him a strange look as he starts to sing along.

"How do you start a fire when there's nothing to burn-" he puts down his guitar and goes over to look up into the flue. "-and it feels like something's stuck in your flue?"

I grin. "How do you generate heat when you can't feel your feet?"

"And they're turning blue?" adds Harry as I light a match to one of my screenplays.

"You light up a mean blaze-" I drop it into our large metal garbage can.

"With posters!" Harry rips them off the walls and drops them in, too.

"And screenplays!" I remind him.

"So, how we gonna pay-"

"How we gonna pay-"

"How we gonna pay last year's rent?!"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_OW. God! This is a nice way to welcome me back!_ I think, wincing.

"How do you stay on your feet, when on every street, it's trick or treat-" I glance over to where the burglars came from. "Well tonight, it's trick!"

Ugh...

"'Welcome back to town'...I should lie down." I wince. What are Harry and Ron thinking? They're probably worried sick.

"Everything's brown, and-" Uh oh. "I feel sick..."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I lean out of our balcony. Then I turn to Harry.

"Where is he?"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ow....

"Gettin' dizzy..."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"But, really, how are we gonna pay last year's rent?" asks Harry after we go back in.

I shrug.

"The music ignites the night with passionate fire." I say, gazing at the flames jumping and twirling and flickering from the depths of the garbage can.

Harry snorts.

"I have a better one. The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit."

I laugh. "Mine's better." I pick up my camera.

"Zoom in and say burn the past to the ground," I say, zooming on the fire.

"And feel the heat of the future's glow!" Harry adds.

The phone rings. I sigh and cautiously pick it up.

"Lavender?" For indeed, it is my ex-girlfriend.

"Hey, Ron, look-"

"Hmm...your equipment won't work?"

"Ron, baby, please, Parvati doesn't know what the hell she's doing! It won't take long or anything, just, you know, I really need your help!"

"Okay-"

"Just this once! It won't happen again! She hired someone, I think, but she hasn't come yet or whatever, so you're my only hope-"

"Alright-"

"Please, Ron! You're my last hope and I really need to do this, please Ron I swear it's the last time, but help me please-"

"I'LL GO!"

Silence.

"Okay, thanks Ron!"

Dial tone. I hang up.

Harry sniggers. I glare at him, then pick up one side of the garbage can as he picks up the other, and we make our way over to the balcony.

"Well, how do you leave the past behind when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart? Like Lavender! I swear, she reaches way down deep and tears me inside out till I'm torn apart!"

"Like rent?" We've reached the balcony, and join the other tenants in throwing our past away. We wave to some of them.

"Yeah."

"HOW CAN YOU CONNECT IN AN AGE WHERE STRANGERS," yells Harry at the top of this lungs to all the other tenants. I give him a weird look.

"LANDLORDS!" yells a girl from across the street, glaring at the car that pulled up in front of our buildings among the floating, burning papers. I groan. Percy.

"LOVERS!" I yell, thinking of Lavender. Harry glances at me before yelling:

"YOUR OWN BLOOD CELLS BETRAY!"

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Oh yeah. I had forgotten to mention that.

There's a disease in the wizarding world, a really bad one, called MIIDS- short for Magic Induced Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Catchy, no?

The problem with MIIDS is that...well, your immune system...for lack of better words, isn't very good. I mean, MIIDS is much easier to handle then AIDS- you didn't think I knew about that, did you?- but it's still bad. (Wizards can't get AIDS, because- of course - we have a cure for it.)

MIIDS allows you to live about one year if treated badly. Treated well, and you don't get sick very often, you can live for a lot longer.

There's treatment, like AZT. Ours is called ISC. Short for Immune System Control. It's very good treatment, and the wizarding world is sure we'll find a cure soon, but until then, MIIDS is deadly.

That, unfortunately, is the very disease that Harry has.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ron?"

I blinked out of my trance thinking about MIIDS.

"What?"

He gestures towards the people on balconies, waiting for me to say something.

I think.

"Well, um...oh! WHAT BINDS A FABRIC TOGETHER-"

"WHEN THE RAGING, SHIFTING WINDS OF CHANGE-" this Harry yells.

"KEEP RIPPING AWAY?!" this comes from below. The voice sounds familiar...

...oh. It sounds a bit like Her voice. I wince. Harry stands in a trace.

"Harry," I say softly. He blinks and snaps out of it.

"I'm fine," he says, his voice a bit harsh and almost raspy.

He took her disappearance the hardest.

Percy takes this time to jump out of his new, shiny black car, and yell something of his own. "Draw a line in the sand and then make a stand!"

Harry turns to me. "Use your camera to spar."

I shrug. "Use your guitar!"

"WHEN THEY ACT TOUGH, YOU CALL THEIR BLUFF!" yells a guy a few apartments over. This is met by wild cheering. Harry gets a cheer going. Sparks from the magic circling around burst into the air. This block is completely made of Hogwarts drop-outs.

I watch the sparks. I haven't seen magic in so long.

The chanting continues.

"We're not gonna pay, we're not gonna pay, we're not gonna pay,"

Harry yells, "Last year's rent!"

"This year's rent!" a guy from across the street yells that.

"Next year's rent!" the voice from downstairs.

Harry's face collapses momentarily, but he straightens his face out to scream, "RENT RENT RENT RENT RENT!"

"WE'RE NOT GONNA PAY RENT!" The entire block yells this. My ears hurt.

"CAUSE," Harry looks at me, so I join in.

"EVERYTHING IS RENT!"

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Later, when everyone's finished screaming, we head down to talk to Percy.

"Hello, Ron, Harry," he greets us. Harry raises an eyebrow.

"No hello? Whatever. I need my rent." he turns to face us.

Harry sighs. "My God, what happened to Percy? What happened to his heart?"

"And the ideals he once perused?" I add. Percy sighs.

"The owner of that lot next door? He has a right to do with it as he pleases."

"Happy Birthday, Jesus!" mutters Harry loudly, sitting on Percy's car.

"Guys-the rent." Percy holds out his hand, glaring at Harry.

"You're wasting your time!" I tell him.

"We-" Harry speaks as though talking to a small child. "-are BROKE."

"Plus, your broke your word!" I exclaim. "God, this is ABSURD-"

"There IS one way that you won't have to pay-" starts Percy, but Harry jumps up.

"I knew it!" I snigger, and Harry smirks as he sits back down.

"Look, next door. Now that the block is re-zoned?" Percy holds out his arms. "Our dream can become a reality!"

"Oh God-" Harry mutters. We're both confused. What dream???

"You'll see, boys!" says Percy happily. "A state of the art, magic studio production company."

I would like that.

"I'll forgo your rent, on paper, guaranteed that you can stay here for free..."

He hesitates.

"IF you do me one SMALL favor."

Uh oh.

"What?"

"Convince Lavender to cancel her protest."

WHAT????

"Why not just get an injunction or call the cops?" I ask. Why does he need us?

"I did!" he tells us eagerly. "They're on standby. But, see, my investors would rather I handle this quietly..."

Oh. THAT'S why.

"You can't just QUIETLY wipe out an entire tent city then watch "It's a Wonderful Life" on TV!" says Harry angrily.

"You want to produce films and write songs?" Percy fires back.

"You need somewhere to do it!"

He's right. But we all know it's a bad idea.

"It's what we used to dream about." Percy's tone is pleading. "Think twice before you pooh-pooh it!"

Harry and I roll our eyes.

"We're not students anymore, Percy." I tell him.

He just looks at me.

We all miss those days. We don't even know what's going on with Vol-

Vold-

I still can't say his name.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Later, at around eleven, Harry and I sit on the couch, both thinking about our old lives.

I'm sure Harry misses his more. Back when everyone was alive. Together. Happy.

I know we have to talk about this.

"Harry-" I begin. He looks at me.

His eyes, once so vibrant and full of life, are now dull, scared, and sad.

I look away.

"Where do you think she went?"

Harry breathes sharply. We haven't discussed this in two years. Since she left.

**FLASHBACK**

_"Ron! RON!" Came the shouting. I awoke sharply. _

_"Harry?" I got up, unhappily, but I was still up._

_He bounded into the room. "SHE'S GONE!"_

_"Who? What…?" Then I noticed. He was crying._

_"She left this note, she left, oh my god, what are we going to do…GINNY!"_

_Still screamed, he ran out of the room to way up my sister._

_Confused, I opened the letter. I read it, then dropped it to the floor, and ran to find Harry and Ginny holding each other and crying. That was the day they got together._

_Dear Harry, Ron, and Ginny,_

_You're all still asleep. I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye, I had to leave._

_I can't live this life. I can't send you an address, I don't know where I'm going._

_We'll see each other again, some day. I know we will. For now, I have to go._

_You're my best friends. Take care of each other. I love you all._

**END FLASHBACK.**

"We'll see her again." said Harry quietly. "She promised."

I don't say anything. We both go to bed that night remembering a certain brown haired bookworm who used to be our best friend.

_____________________________________________________________________

In note for future chapters, if I mess up the ages (which I will) I'm sorry!


	4. The One Lighted Candle

*cringes* Please don't kill me!!!! I forgot, and I ran out of time to write.

I NEED YOUR HELP!!!! On my page-thing for this story, it says something about a 'hit.' What's a hit??? I was looking at it and also noticed that a lot of you are reading without reviewing!

So review and tell me what a hit is!!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Harry's shoulder slump, looking as though they carry the weight of the world on them. His face is turned towards his guitar, stroking its side.

I watch. I know this look.

I learned it after second year. We had cheated death in the form of...You-Know-Who, and going home, he seemed to realize that it wasn't going to end. He looked just as he does now, but instead of his guitar, he stroked his wand. Until we cheered him up, of course, by starting some games of Exploding Snap.

I saw it again in third year, knowing a mass murderer who had killed his parents was after him, as well. It wasn't until after we knew he was innocent that the weight lifted and his eyes lit up, and Harry was himself again.

In fourth year, that look was all I saw. I still kick myself internally for not being there for him during the first task. It seems so trivial, now, how jealous I was of my best friend's success. I wanted nothing more then to be in his shoes. And I know he wanted what I had.

Fifth year, he seemed a bit happier. His only problem was Umbridge, and Sirius. We don't talk about our old lives very much, so I don't know if he still grieves.

Sixth year...

Sixth year.

He dropped out.

We're his friends. So did we.

On our way out, our wands snapped. We stuffed them in our pockets and moved on.

We found him here.

Gradually, we made our homes here. This entire block is made of our original group and many other who have moved out since then, from ages 15 to 30. Some have died, some have moved away. But the rest of us stick together. Even when one of our own died. When one of us moved away.

Which is probably why Harry is moping right now.

I sit next to him. He startles and looks at me.

"Hey. I'm gonna go find Seamus and maybe grab some dinner. Wanna come?"

Harry half-smiles. "Zoom in on my empty wallet."

I smile back. "Touche. See you when I get back." I stand up. Harry picks up his guitar and strums. I remember something.

"Take your ISC."

He looks at me and nods a bit, then turns back to his guitar. I flip on my camera

"Zoom on Harry," I whisper. "My sister, and his girlfriend, Ginny, left a note saying 'We've got MIIDS' before slitting her wrists in the bathtub." Then I leave.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The door slides shut. I sigh, looking down at my guitar, half-smiling when Hermione and Ginny put their money together for my seventeenth birthday and bought it.

But my smile slides off my face as I remember what happened to Ginny. What I hoped hadn't happened to Hermione. I pick at my guitar, trying to play Musetta's Waltz, but messing up. I finally put it down and head to the balcony. No one else is outside.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I sit outside of my new apartment. There are slow footsteps above me. I gasp and retreat so that whoever's up there can't see me. But I know, and my heart aches.

A voice, that I instantly recognize as Harry's starts singing, bitterly, sadly, as though he's lost everyone.

"One life's glory

The life I had before, glory,

Glory to leave behind,

Find, my life,

That last refrain,

Glory,

From the pretty boy front man,

Who wasted opportunity,

Who lived,

Who had the world at his feet,

Glory,

In the eyes of a young girl,

A young girl," His voice sighs, and pauses for a few moments, breathing heavily, before continuing.

"Find glory

Beyond the cheap colored lights,

One chance

Before my sun sets

Glory - on another empty life!" A banging noice comes from above, as though Harry banged his fist against the iron railing.

"Time flies - time dies!" Harry's voice is bitter, full of regret, and I wince.

"Glory - that blaze of glory

That blaze of glory -

Glory!" He holds the note, and the heavy, ragging breating continues. I know what he's doing. He's angsting.

"Find,

Glory,

In a life that rings true

Truth like a blazing fire

That eternal flame," His voice is wistful now.

"Find, one truth,

A life about love,

Glory,

From the soul of a young man,

A young man,"

"Find,

The one truth,

Before the virus takes hold,

Glory,

Like a sunset,

One truth,

To redeem this empty life!" His voice is back to being angsty. I make up my mind, then and there, to go up there.

If I don't, he might kill himself. If I do, he still might kill himself.

But I leave, grabbing something on an impluse, not quite catching his final lyrics.

"Time flies,

And then - no need to endure anymore!

Time dies..."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I head back in, feeling better now. Just as I'm sitting back down and picking up my guitar, there's a knock at the door.

I groan and place my guitar gently on the ground, positive that it's Ron. I pull open the door.

"What'd you forget?" I ask Ron.

But it's not Ron. _What?_ It's an extremely beautiful woman...who looks really familiar...

"Got a light?" she asks me, holding out a small candle. Her voice sounds familiar...oh! This must be the girl from downstairs. But...

"I know you," I tell her, scrunching up my eyebrows. "You're.." But my confused look disappears. She's..."You're shivering."

She walks into the room and looks around with interest. "It's nothing, they turned off my heat. I'm just a little weak on my feet."

I stare at her. She's really beautiful.

"Would you light my candle?" I hear dimly. Really, who is she...?

"What are you staring at?" breaks through. I snap out of it.

"Uh, nothing,well, your hair in the moonlight..." I break off to light her candle. "You look familiar."

She smiles and starts to leave, but she loses her balance. I catch her.

"Can you make it?" I ask, concerned. She smiles at me.

"Just haven't eaten much today. At least the room stopped spinning, anyway...what?" she catches me staring again.

"Er...nothing!" She gives me a 'yeah, right' look. I smile at her. "Your smile reminds me of-"

She smiles again. "I always remind people of...who is she?"

My smile drops. "She died...her name was Ginny..."

The girl spins around so I can't see her face for a couple of seconds, then turns around.

"It's out again," And it is. "Sorry about your friend." Her voice sounds sincere.

"Would you light my candle?" she asks again. I do so.

We stand, staring at one another. I break the silence.

"Well-"

"Ow!" she says, shaking her finger. I catch it and look at it.

"Oh, the wax," I say, trying to ignore the warm feeling I'm getting. It's not caused by the candle. "It's-"

"Dripping." she finishes, smiling in an almost..._seductive _way. "I like it between my-"

"Fingers!" Merlin, I really don't want to hear the end of that sentance. "I figured."

Not sure of anything else to say, I add "Oh, well, goodnight."

She continues to smile as she walks out. I turn back to the couch...

BANG BANG BANG!

I turn around. She's still there.

"It blew out again?" I ask. She shakes her head, searching her pockets.

"No- I think that I dropped my stash."

Ignoring this as she walks back in, I say "I know I've seen you out and about. Well, when I used to go out. Your candle's out," I add.

She sighs. "Ahh! I had it when I walked through the door! It was pure! Is it on the floor?"

She bends down to look. What is she talking about??

"The floor?" Who IS this girl? She's really very beautiful...she's chuckling.

"They say I have the best ass below fourteenth street. Is it true?"

I blink. "What?"

She sits up, smiling. "You're staring again." She notes playfully.

"Oh, um, no…" I stutter. What is she doing? "I mean, you do, have a nice-"

_HARRY!_

"No, I mean, you look familiar." I get down to help her look for her…whatever.

"Like your dead girlfriend?" she says it almost...bitterly.

I wince. She doesn't seem to notice. "Well, only when you smile, then I'm sure I've seen you somewhere else…"

"Do you go to the Phoenix Club? Well, that's where I work. I dance."

I grin. I have seen her there, but I'm sure I've seen her somewhere else, too…oh well.

"Yes! They used to tie you up!"

She winces. "It's a living…."

I can't stop grinning. "I didn't recognize you without your handcuffs-"

She cuts me off. "We could light the candle," she says, holding it up.

"Won't you light the candle?" I do so, again. I'm running low on matches...wait, this girl _strips_?

"Why don't you forget that stuff? You look like you're sixteen."

Not that I'm much older…

"I'm nineteen," she shoots me a look, and gets up.

"I'm old for my age…I'm just born to be bad!"

I shake my head and get up, too.

"I once was born to be bad," I tell her, leaning against our table. I get it...

"I used to shiver like that-"

"I have no heat, I told you-!" Hm.

"I used to sweat."

She pauses. "Um…I got a cold."

Right. "Uh huh…I used to be a junkie."

She hesitates. "Well, now and then I like to…"

"Uh huh."

"…feel good?" she gives me an inquiring glance.

A small bag catches my eye. Ah ha! I pick it up.

"Oh here-"

"What's that?" she's by my side in an instant. I stuff it into my pocket and hope she doesn't notice.

"Oh, er, candy bar wrapper!"

She smiles again. WHO IS SHE? "We could light the candle…"

She reaches around to my back pocket to try and get her…ugh. I snuff out her candle. She pulls back around.

"Oh, what'd you do with my candle?"

She stands with a smoking candle in one hand, the other on her hip, a half-smile on her face. I know I've seen her before, but I decide not to press the issue. I sit down on the couch, next to my guitar. "That was my last match," I inform her.

"Our eyes will adjust, thank God for the moon…" she shyly sits on my lap, since my guitar covers the rest of the couch. I gulp.

"Maybe it's not the moon at all." She looks at me. "I hear Spike Lee is shootin' down the street…"

She laughs, softly, and it hits me. No. What? Really...? I want to hug her and scream at her at the same time. I settle for just smiling at her.

"Bah humbug." She says, grinning the old grin that I know so well. She slips her hand into mine.

"Cold hands…" I murmur. What happened to her…?

"Yours, too. Big, like my father's." she smiles. "Wanna dance?"

I smile and stand up, taking her hand with me and pulling her up.

"With you?"

"No," she giggles, and lightly slaps my arm. "With my father…"

We move around in a slow circle as I breathe in the smell of her hair. God, I've missed her…

"I'm Harry." I say playfully. I smile into her hair, not feeling her taking her fix out of my back pocket until she slips out of my arms and smiles back at me.

"They call me, they call me…" she says, waving her fix in front of my face, I try to grab it, but she spins away and calls her name out as she walks out the door, and it echoes in my mind as I fall onto the couch, shaking my head. I grin. She's back. My best friend, that last member of our long-ago golden trio...

"Hermione!"

I was considering not telling you her name for a couple more chapters, but I'm so nice I've decided to. Sorry to disappoint many of my readers, but I hope you'll stick with the story. Please do not throw flames at my ship!


	5. AN I'M BAAACK!

the a/n chapter:

...

...

...heh...

How are you...?

*dodges sudden onslaught of flames and arrows*

OKAY! OKAY, I'M SORRY! I'M SO SO SO SORRY!

Yes I know it's been...a year....and I know I have no excuses, but I have good news!

I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING WITH THE STORY.

...unfortunately, some of you might not like it...

See, this story isn't just RENT. It has an original plotline. It will stray away from the storyline. It will skip some songs. It's have Harry/Hermione.

...please no flames.

I've improved my writing since last year, and I hoep this fic will improve. I hope you'll stay along for the ride.

I'M BACK!

-Thista


	6. Wandering Thoughts and OOC

A/N: Would like to point out that I'm writing this because of three AWESOME reviews I got...these people are awesome. Thank La-Belle-Chere and DoubleTrouble28513 (Tracy) for this chapter! *hold button for applause*

I have a joint account, too. :)

No song lyrics in this one :( and OOC HHR. YAY!

*sings* 525600 things,

525600 things I don't own...

525600 good things,

Why the heck can't the rights belong to me?

Cause of copywrites,

and lawyers,

and jails and stuff like that,

I'm too young,

to be imprisoned so no.

* * *

I've been thinking lately.

I know you're all gasping in shock, but shut up and listen.

I'm beginning to realize how selfish I've been.

God, I just left Hogwarts cause I was moping and felt too much pressure! I'm the only one who can defeat Voldemort. It's me. And I just left the magical world in peril.

I feel like shit.

Ron and I are having breakfast. It's Christmas Day, and I'm picking at my food, gloomily remembering my first Christmas at Hogwarts. Getting teh Invisibility Cloak from Dumbledore. I wince. What is Dumbledore doing? Merlin, my parents would be so ashamed of me. I sink in my chair, feeling absolutely awful.

"Ron." I say. He looks up. "What?"

"I've been thinking."

"That can't be good."

"Just, stop, Ron! Shut up and fucking LISTEN!"

Silence falls. Ron's staring at me like he's never seen me before. I ball my fists under the table.

"I'm sorry."

Ron nods and takes another bite of his cereal.

"Listen, I-"

But there's a knock on the door and it's Seamus with Luna, his girlfriend, and they're talking and Ron's laughing so I excuse myself while Luna dreamily recounts how she killed a dog to get some money. I walk downstairs, hands in pockets, and knock on the door of the girl who I thought I'd never see again.

The door slides open and there's Hermione, frowning at me. I can't help but smile. I don't know who was knocking on my door last night, asking if I'd light her candle when i know perfectly well she can do it with magic, but this girl obviously isn't her.

She breaks into a look of horror when she sees me and slams the door in my face.

"Hermione?" I say, simply opening the door. She's sobbing on a armchair, and I stand awkwardly, looking around at the piles of books.

"Hermione?" I say again.

"I'm s-so sorry, Harry," she says, still shaking. "I didn't want you to find me like this," she whispers. "This isn't how I wanted us to meet again..."

I just look at her, confused out my mind. "But..." I say, "you were fine last night."

She whirls around to face me. "Last night?" she repeats.

"Yeah, you came up and asked if I could light your candle...kinda out of character for you..."

Her eyes widen and she drops her head in her hands. "Oh, no..." she moans.

"What?"

She's silent for a few moments, then utters words that change your life forever.

"I was high, Harry. I'm addicted."

* * *

BWHAHA. No more updates if I get no reviews!

*sings* I need more reviews

to write my story!

How will I write if

I get no reviews?

How about

not...

How about

not...

How about

not...

I need reviews

Please go and

review....

Please go and

review....


End file.
